As a child and even as an adult, I enjoyed indulging in the fantastic world of storybook fairytales. Typically, I have found that there are five basic elements that make for a good fairytale: the guy, the girl, true love, the villain and some kind of curse. Most fairytale storylines often follow a similar template, or timeline. Guy meets girl. They fall in love. The villain casts a spell. The couple temporarily separates. Guy and girl battle the forces of evil. They kiss. The spell is broken. True love prevails. But that’s just a fairy tale. Right?

If we were to dissect the layers of today’s love stories, they would somewhat parallel the storybook fairytale. This is probably where I lost some of you. Just give me a minute, and I promise to reel it back in.

The timeline of a lot of real life love stories is as follows: Guy meets girl. Guy and girl fall in love. The villain casts a spell. Guy and girl are defeated. Wait, that’s not how it’s supposed to end. But for many, that is the story. For many, they are still caught under a curse.

So how do we define this modern-day “curse”? The “curse” is anything that prevents us from living our best lives—the lives that God intended. In order to break the proverbial curse, we have to know and embrace a few basic truths. We are not our mothers. We are not our fathers. We are not our pasts. We are not our ancestors. We are not our generation. We are made in God’s image and rescued, saved and sanctified by the blood of Jesus Christ. We have been freed from ALL generation curses. We have been freed from ALL familial patterns, behaviors and/or habits. Our legacies are our own. We are not defined, confined or restricted by our environment. God makes ALL things new. Each day we are new creature in Christ. Yesterday is forgotten and forgiven. But there is a catch. Unlike the storybook characters who had to battle the forces of evil themselves, we have an ally. His name is Jesus Christ. If we trust in Him, He will fight for us, but we have to be willing to go into the battle. His blood is the metaphorical kiss that will break the spells, curses and bewitchment in our lives. His love is the one true love, and it will prevail and overflow into all aspects of our lives, including our relationships. With Jesus, we are not always guaranteed to live happily ever after, but we are promised a happy ever after.

Today’s prayer for our relationships is:

Ask Jesus for deliverance from any perceived “curses”: generations/familial “curses”, which may include a history of divorce/separation, anger, selfishness, strife and any other vice that could prevent us from living our best lives.

Ask Jesus for the courage, wisdom and faith to know that both you and your significant other are both God’s masterpiece and deserving of love and honor/respect

In Numbers 23, Balak, king of Moab, had commanded Balaam, the prophet, to curse the Israelites, whom God had blessed. Balaam’s response to Balak, from over thousands of years ago, is still valid today. He replied to the king saying: “Listen, I received a command to bless; God has blessed, and I cannot reverse it (Numbers 23:20, NLT)!”

What God has blessed, no man can curse. Pray a blessing over your life and your marriage (or future marriage) today.